science

The Big Piece

The Big Piece is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Big Piece rather than just read about it. In short: The Big Piece is a large section of the Titanic's starboard hull extracted from its wreck. Recovered in 1998, it is the largest piece of the wreck to be recovered and weighs 15 short tons (14 t).

Key takeaways

The Big Piece belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Big Piece to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Big Piece from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Big Piece is a large section of the Titanic's starboard hull extracted from its wreck. Recovered in 1998, it is the largest piece of the wreck to be recovered and weighs 15 short tons (14 t). It is currently located at the Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition at Luxor Las Vegas.

History

Recovery First spotted in 1994, The Big Piece was recovered by RMS Titanic, Inc., headed by George Tulloch and Paul-Henri Nargeolet, in 1998. It was chosen to be brought to the surface to act as a centerpiece for a planned exhibition where visitors could "immerse themselves in the Titanic." During a failed attempt in 1996, the submersible Nautile attached flotation bags that would lift the artifact to the surface when released. During the two hours it took for the hull to ascend, two cruise ships gathered near the site and allowed occupants to watch. Before it had surfaced, the Canadian ship MV Jim Kilabuk arrived to bring the object to Halifax. However, it did not have a winch appropriate for the job, and the piece fell back into the ocean when the lines broke during Hurricane Edouard. In August 1998, the Abeille Supporter was able to successfully lift the hull section to the deck. It weighed about 20 short tons (18,000 kg) when first recovered.

Conservation The hull ended up being stored in Boston and broken into two parts, due to some concerns about its size during transportation and exhibiting. The second piece was not very large as it was just an extending part. Before being cleaned, it had many rusticles. Many of the bronze parts of the hull, such as the windows, were still in working condition, and remnants of paint could be seen in some areas. Conservation was headed by LP3 Conservation from France and EverGreene Architectural Arts. The artifact was desalinated using sacrificial anodes and soaked in sodium carbonate for 18 months. During the soaking period, it traveled to venues in Boston, St. Paul, and New York City. The rusticles and some loose corroded parts were removed by a 3,000-psi water jet. The piece was then dried using propane torches and the remaining debris was hand-picked off. To neutralize the rust, conservationists applied a 5% tannic acid solution and hot waxed it. After traveling for a while, being exhibited at places such as the Metreon in San Francisco, the Big Piece ended up on display at the Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition at the Luxor in Las Vegas, which opened in 2008. It has received 22 million visitors as of 2023. The Little Piece is located at a similar exhibition in Orlando, Florida.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Big Piece

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Big Piece claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Big Piece before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Big Piece ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Big Piece

In research: The Big Piece appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Big Piece in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Big Piece is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Archaeological artifacts, RMS Titanic, Shipwrecks, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Big Piece outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Big Piece in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Big Piece means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Big Piece out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Big Piece in simple terms?

The Big Piece is a large section of the Titanic's starboard hull extracted from its wreck. Recovered in 1998, it is the largest piece of the wreck to be recovered and weighs 15 short tons (14 t).

Why does The Big Piece matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Big Piece?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Big Piece.